Happy official birthday to the Steam client for Linux, today marks six years since it released for everyone.

Who would have thought we would have everything we do now back in 2013? We've come a seriously long way! In that time we've seen the rise and fall of the Steam Machine and Steam Link (now available as an app), the Steam Controller, the HTC Vive headset and plenty more.

We now have well over five thousand games available on the Steam store that support Linux. That's a ridiculous amount, considering we're still a very small platform even in comparison to Mac when going by the current Steam Hardware Survey showing the market share.

Obviously the number doesn't mean much, quality games are more important and we do have some seriously good games available on Linux. The biggest gap is of course AAA games, which has become quite a bit easier thanks to Steam Play.

Here's to you Valve, thanks for all the fun. You're certainly not perfect and you make plenty of mistakes but you've given us a lot and I for one am especially thankful for the effort.

What are you hoping to see out of Valve in the next few years?

Personally, I hope they continue to push through and get SteamOS 3.0 out the door, a fresh Steam Machine push would be sweet when Steam Play has matured and some good new games would go down well.

I started working with Linux around 1996/1997, and although I was a PC gamer at the time, the dedication to a "serious" OS made me lose contact with the gaming world, since I also removed windows from my own PC. I even bought some original Linux titles in 2001 or 2002 (who remembers Loki? I still have my Descent 3 Linux CD!), but that was more of a curiosity than real hope I'd have gaming on Linux. That's why at the time of Steam for Linux launch I was very skeptic and I took some time to be convinced by it, but oh boy, convinced I am, and nowadays I consider gaming to be the most important aspect of Linux to rise to mass public success. Since I have a gap of little less than 20 years of gaming, I routinely buy older games to enjoy and I marvel at some 2004 graphics like a little child. Thanks, Valve! You deeply transformed my life for the better.

PatolaI started working with Linux around 1996/1997, and although I was a PC gamer at the time, the dedication to a "serious" OS made me lose contact with the gaming world, since I also removed windows from my own PC. I even bought some original Linux titles in 2001 or 2002 (who remembers Loki? I still have my Descent 3 Linux CD!), but that was more of a curiosity than real hope I'd have gaming on Linux. That's why at the time of Steam for Linux launch I was very skeptic and I took some time to be convinced by it, but oh boy, convinced I am, and nowadays I consider gaming to be the most important aspect of Linux to rise to mass public success. Since I have a gap of little less than 20 years of gaming, I routinely buy older games to enjoy and I marvel at some 2004 graphics like a little child. Thanks, Valve! You deeply transformed my life for the better.

This pretty much mirrors my experience. Although I was too busy with university around 2001 and my purchases were a little later from LGP instead of Loki.

An updated Steam machine would indeed be nice, ideally something you can already buy when the next generation of consoles hits the market, so that they show up in all articles about the new Playstation/XBox as a reference point.

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